I am not an Australian. Instead, I chose to move here – twice, in fact. Since first arriving on these shores in 2005, I have had the pleasure of working with innovative thinkers in both the private and the public sector in every state and territory.

During these nearly 10 years, I have seen Australia’s technology scene emerge into a global player and, more importantly, the national and local mindset towards knowledge industries evolve considerably.

While I agree with
Atlassian
’s
Mike Cannon-Brookes
’s recent statement that a critical mass is necessary to properly support and sustain a tech start-up ecosystem, I feel that a country as vast as Australia needs to approach innovation in much the same way as it has its abundant natural resources.

By this, I mean that industries have grown up across the country based on what is in the ground, or on the vines, or in the water.

We haven’t centralised mining or wineries or fishing. We go to where the products are being produced and we do it very well.

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Our tertiary education system, while it has its flaws, is largely exceptional, and is producing bright minds and hard workers from every campus nationwide – not just Sydney.

There is so much world-class technology talent in every Australian capital city and in many regional areas that to ignore anyone or any company outside of Sydney not willing to relocate would reduce the sector to an unscalable and unsustainable fraction of its potential.

Companies under the radar

Last June, The Age published a list of 10 successful Australian technology companies (including Atmail) flying under the radar – 40 per cent of which are not headquartered in New South Wales. Two of the most successful Australian internet business in recent memory,
SEEK
and
Wotif
, are based outside of Sydney, and many venture capital firms, angel investors and incubators, along with the rising stars in their portfolios, are in Melbourne and Brisbane. Even Tasmania, our smallest state, has a technology industry generating more than $1 billion dollars annually, according to 2010 government growth figures.

There are multiple other examples and ample evidence across the country to show that a policy of focusing investment on one capital city would be a significant step backward.

Instead, what we need to continue moving forward are modern and creative national technology innovation policies that will enable entrepreneurs of all stripes to easily and affordably start companies.

They must attract the best staff nationally and globally, and invigorate the tertiary education sector to provide a variety of options for people to learn the hard and soft skills needed by local employers.

These actions, while critical to the success of business, can only be as effective as the technology infrastructure on which they run and over which their services are delivered.

The current National Broadband Network rollout strategy is too little, too late, to keep up with the potential pace of growth in tech start-up activity and the growing digital literacy within our business and general population.

More is needed to expand public sector involvement with government broadband rollout plans.

A search for the address of Atmail’s headquarters on the NBN website shows that “The NBN rollout has not started" in our area. However, through research, a relatively small investment and a partnership with TPG, Atmail has had fibre broadband in our offices on the Sunshine Coast since January of this year.

Necessary infrastructure in place

We now have the necessary infrastructure via microwave fibre and the start of a mesh network to provide affordable high-speed broadband to other neighbouring businesses. This model is not, and should not be unique.

It can be replicated in other locations across the country, speeding up the NBN rollout without relying on government timelines.

We are not a nation of exclusive city dwellers and we do not have the luxury of ignoring genius outside of our biggest cities.

We are a world-class producer of technology and innovation and only by bringing the sector together, irrespective of location, can all of our technology companies, not just the unicorns in Sydney, share the spotlight with our brethren overseas.

Zach Johnson is chief executive of Sunshine Coast-based technology company Atmail. He was appointed by founder Ben Duncan in April 2014.